Hep
Ask Vardi (There Was
Always Love)
Kent
Oyunculari (Kent Actors) will stage a play written and directed by
Yildiz Kenter.
The play, which retells Kenter's life, is focused on the adventure
of humanity. Her mother Olga Cynthia's arrival in Turkey in 1920,
her marriage to the statesman Mehmed Galip Bey, and Turkey's political
and social panorama up to the year 2000 are revealed in the play and
accompanied by slides. There are many lessons to be drawn from the
play for those able to understand it.
While
Kenter gives a splendid performance and seems to combine the spirit
of three generations in one person, Kent Oyunculari reveal the real
capacity of a state artist. There is a lesson to be drawn here by
managements and individuals who appoint whomsoever they please as
state artists.
When
saying, "Thanks to the friends with whom I spent 72 years of
my life, which I tried to explain in two hours, and to all my enemies,"
Kenter reveals the true meaning of tolerance. The artist, who refuses
to react to the attitudes and words of other people, defines maturity
in this play.
After
graduating from the Ankara State Theater Conservatory Department of
Theater in 1948, Kenter entered Turkish theater as a player and teacher.
She then came to Istanbul with her brother Musfik Kenter. She established
Kent Oyunculari during the 1959-1960 season with Musfik Kenter under
the leadership of Muhsin Ertugrul. She performed "Salincakta
Iki Kisi", "Tahta Canaklar", "Cöl Faresi"
and "Ofke" in the famous Karaca Theater with Lale Oraloglu,
Sukran Güngör, Sadri Alisik, Zihni Rona, Genco Erkal and
Kamran Yuce, who are the leading lights of Turkish theater. Then she
continued in Site Theater with the plays "Antigone," "Evdeki
Yabanci," in Karaca Theater with "Rasaman," "Buyuk
Sebastiyanlar," and in Ses Theater with "Nalinlar",
"Kim Korkar Hain Kurttan" and "Mikadonun Copleri."
She
opened her own theater in Harbiye with her brother Musfik and her
husband Sukran Gungor, and put on "Hamlet," "Elmaci
Kadin," "Fareler ve Insanlar," "Van Gogh"
and "Babalar ve Ogullari."
She was also awarded the Golden Orange prize as best assistant actress
with her roles in the films "Agaclar Ayakta Olur-3" (1964),
"Pembe Kadin" (1966) and "Kizim Ayse" (1974).
The Turkish Women's Union and the Italian Culture Center also gave
her awards for actress of the year.
The
artist, who also worked at the Istanbul Municipality Conservatory
and Mimar Sinan University Theater department as a lecturer, performed
the play "Ben Anadolu" (I Anatolia) by Sükran Güngör
and Güngör Dilmen in English in New York.
